no slide title · 2020. 1. 18. · while some stuff i don’t care to know (music by adele or...
TRANSCRIPT
It’s a Win-Win The Natural Heritage Residency Program
By Eric Smith, Division of Natural Heritage
Eric Smith was born and
raised in Southern
Maine. He graduated with a
MS degree from Eastern
Illinois University. Eric
worked with the Illinois
Natural History before
becoming a Natural Heritage
Biologist with IDNR in 1996
and is currently located in
Gibson City. @ORC is a weekly publication by the IL Department of Natural
Resources Office of Resource
Conservation about exciting and wonderful things ORC staff are doing throughout Illinois. Tammy Miller, Editor [email protected]
In 1993 the Natural Heritage
Residency Internship was born, a
program whereby universities in
Illinois partner with the Division of
Natural Heritage and the Illinois
Nature Preserves Commission to
allow enrolled graduate students to
take part in the program and earn
credit towards their graduate degree.
It is a 12-month full time
employment to qualified graduate
students where they participate in
the identification, stewardship, and
protection of Illinois natural areas.
Students are mentored by field-
based or program staff and given the
opportunity to apply and expand
their education and gain hands-on
experience in natural resource
management. Specifically, residents
conduct stewardship management
such as, controlling exotic and
invasive species from high quality
natural areas and sites that contain
state listed species.
They also participate in biological
surveys; evaluate natural
community quality, based on the
Illinois Natural Areas Inventory
(INAI); are trained and participate
in prescribed burning; and how to
use GPS and GIS to collect and
analyze data on natural populations
and communities. The program
gives the graduate student valuable
applied experience he/she will need
when applying for employment in
the natural resources field.
Residents typically love the
program. Some have called it the
greatest year of their life. For most,
it confirms that they want to be
natural resource managers. Others
that are still undecided in their
career soon become hooked the first
time they put fire on the ground or
pick a mapleleaf mussel from a
gravel riffle and run. Another
major influence for residents is the
passion they get when walking into
@ORC
Issue # 51
February 26, 2016
Kim Roman was in the residency program 20 years ago. She currently works as a Natural
Areas Preservation Specialist for the Illinois Nature Preserve Commission
a rare high quality natural community for the very
first time. If they grew up in Chicago or the
surrounding suburbs, or were raised in the heart of
the Illinois’ agricultural belt, the first visit to
something really extraordinary can be very powerful.
Are there complaints from Residents about the
program? Absolutely! The two universal complaints
are that they can’t believe the amount of paperwork
required and the pay is poor. My response as a
mentor to those complaints is that, no matter where
you work in this field, there will always be
paperwork and that the internship should be
considered a stepping stone to a better paying job.
The internship really isn’t a job but instead, a year-
long applied field course. For some reason my
answer never appears to reassure the Residents.
Many students entering the internship program lack
plant identification skills. In the past ten years or so,
critical components of botanical education are
lacking as universities shift away from traditional
botany degrees and course offerings. Students who
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finish resident internships have been constantly
exposed to plants and leave the internship with a
valued skill set which they greatly appreciate.
In return for these hands-on experiences, Residents
make a wonderful contribution to the Department by
assisting IDNR biologists and INPC staff to help
accomplish so much additional and needed work.
Residents participate in important stewardship
activities like exotic/invasive species control and
prescribed burning, biological surveys including
endangered and threatened, technical writing of
proposals, reports, and management plans. Who
wouldn’t want an extra pair of young and eager
hands pulling nodding thistle in the hot summer sun,
or spraying 50 acres of black locust re-sprouts after
you thought you had killed it the first time?
One Heritage Resident summed it up perfectly:
“I couldn't identify plants! My second day on the
job was spent in the field with biologists crawling
around on their hands and knees, looking at
plants through hand lenses, smelling them, maybe
even tasting them (I think I recall that correctly).
All I could do was follow them around and nod
my head while thinking about how my new boots
were giving me blisters. This was an important
lesson that I learned right off the bat. Most of the
time, you are not directly managing wildlife. You
are managing plant communities. If you are
going to correctly manage these communities you
need to be able to identify plants!”
Alex Faulkner is obtaining morphological measurements of the
state endangered Illinois Mud Turtle. He just completed his
residency January 15, 2016 and is seeking gainful employment!
Laural Wilson and Jared Ruholl, both finished their residency
in 2014, are conducting a bee study at Patterson Savanna
LWR. Laural is at the North Shore Land Stewardship Assoc. in
Minnesota and is the Invasive Team Coordinator. Jared is
currently a Land Conservation Specialist for the National
Great Rivers Research and Education Center in Vandalia, IL
of surface hydrology of Illinois Beach State Park
which was used to by the US Army Corps of
Engineers to help their study. Finally, nearly all
residents write a Nature Preserve or Land and Water
Reserve proposal, management goals, and
management schedule for a state owned or privately
owned site. These proposals can be very time
consuming.
Residents often bring with them their own
specialized expertise that is put to good use by the
Department and the Commission. One resident
pursuing a degree in Entomology conducted a
preliminary study of Hymenoptera at Bald Bluff and
Harry Patterson Savanna LWR (Big River State
Forest). The study was designed to compare species
composition between sand prairies, hill prairies, and
tallgrass prairies. The study revealed that while all
three natural communities have species in common
to each other, the overall composition was mostly
unique to that specific habitat. Also notable, the
Resident intern found several species new to Illinois
that were only know from west of the Mississippi
River. Later, this same study was continued with a
more comprehensive and in-depth approach by
another interested resident.
And the biologists learn from the Residents as well.
While some stuff I don’t care to know (music by
Adele or Doctor Dog), other stuff is fantastic. John
Griesbaum knew how to disable the seat belt buzzer
and was an ArcGIS whiz. Tyson Dallas showed me
that it’s possible to use two computer screens at one
time. And Meghan Strange recently taught me to
use the clipping tool in Microsoft Word when
inserting photos into reports. WHO KNEW!!
The Residency program also allows IDNR and
INPC staff complete additional tasks that would not
be possible without their assistance. In 2010,
residents interns assisted with a 5-week survey of
the state endangered Blanding’s turtle in portions of
the Kankakee Sands Conservation Opportunity
Area, to update 1974 historic records.
Not only were known populations rediscovered and
historic records updated, but new populations were
found. Another Resident from Northwestern
University used his school’s library privileges to
conduct research to get a better understanding of
how ravine streams historically flowed into the
coastal plain that makes up Illinois Beach State
Park. His study resulted in a comprehensive history Page 3
Tyson Dallas assisted with surveys for the state threatened
Kirtland’s water snake in Central Illinois. He completed his
residency September 2014 and is currently a visiting
Wildlife/Forestry Biology Specialist for the Department of
Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the
University of Illinois.
Bridget Henning, 2014 resident, is opening up a prairie at
Sand Prairie Scrub Oak Nature Preserve. Bridget is currently
a Postdoctoral Research Associate with the IL Natural History
Survey
By all accounts the program has
been a success. Since 1993,
eighty-two residents have worked
through the program. Eighty-five
percent of residents that have
completed the program are
currently working in a
conservation related career.
Many past residents have been
successful in securing positions
within the Illinois DNR. In 1996,
when the Division of Natural
Heritage and the Illinois Nature
Preserves Commission added 13
new field staff, 11 of the new
employees were previous
Residents, Veterans, or both.
http://www.dnr.illinois.gov/conservation/NaturalHeritage/Pages/NaturalHeritageGraduateStudentResidencyProgram.aspx
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The Natural Heritage Residency program has proven to be an effective way to get needed help on the
ground and benefit from Residents’ individual areas of expertise. Meanwhile, the program is helping
prepare students for their careers. This is a win-win for Natural Heritage and the next generation of
natural resource managers.
Mission Statement
The mission of the IL DNR Natural Heritage
Graduate Student Residency Program is to provide
graduate students in natural resource and/or
conservation disciplines significant and meaningful
technical and professional work experience
commensurate with their education and level of
academic training.
Today, eight former Residents are employed with
the Division of Natural Heritage, two more are
employed with the Illinois Nature Preserves
Commission, and one is a Conservation Police
Officer. Six former members of the program are
currently employed by the Division of Wildlife
and another with the IDNR Coastal Management
Program. Additionally, Residents are currently
employed by the Illinois Natural History Survey
(2), State Departments of Natural Resources (6),
County and City Forest Preserve Districts (2),
Federal Government (7, including the US Fish
and Wildlife Service, US Forest Service, and
Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie) and the
private environmental consulting sector (8).
Russ Blogg, above, was a resident in 2008-09. He is an IDNR
Natural Heritage Biologist, located in Utica, IL
Diane Tecic, below, completed her residency in 1996. She is
currently the Director for the IDNR Coastal Management Program
in Chicago IL.